For fans of Margaret Atwood

Thoughtful novel, written in a wry, magical realist tone reminiscent of Kelly Link and Carmen Maria Machado

Megan Giddings’s prose is brimming with wonder. The Women Could Fly is a candid appraisal of grief, inheritance, and the merits of unruliness.

This novel put me in the mind of the works of Margaret Atwood. An extraordinary concept

It can be tempting to read The Women Could Fly, which comes in the shadow of the recent Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, and call the book timely. But the relationship at the heart of this novel — between Jo and her mercurial mother — is much closer to timeless.

Perfect for fans of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Power, The Women Could Fly is a feminist dystopia set in a world where witches are real and young women – in particular, young Black women – are closely monitored for signs of magic and regularly put on trial for witchcraft.

The Women Could Fly is an absolute triumph. Giddings conjures up a world that feels familiar, despite the increasingly creepy hints of dystopia. And along the way, she shows what the anti-witch crusaders really fear most: our ability to create a better world if we work together.

The Women Could Fly is one of the most exhilarating and fulfilling books I’ve read in years. It’s wildly imaginative, funny, deep, radical, and full of suspense. I read it in one giant gulp of pleasure. Megan Giddings is truly a remarkable writer.

Profound, daring, wondrous, and utterly original. A feminist dystopian epic about a world where women’s life choices are policed and female power and autonomy are the most dangerous forces of all, Megan Giddings’ The Women Could Fly offers a hypnotic blend of enchantment and outrage. I could not love this novel more.

The Women Could Fly lifts the veil of this world to show, amid the old grief and injustice, a glimmer of necessary magic. This is a gem of a book about womanhood, lineage, and defiance.

The Women Could Fly drew me in immediately with its balance of humour and pain, magic and familiarity, and the unforgettable characters who are the novel’s beating heart. Reading this book is like putting on an old winter coat and discovering a magical talisman in the pocket: it’s full of warmth, comfort, and a whole new world of possibility. Megan Giddings is an exquisite novelist, and a writer to watch.

Born of a radical imagination and executed with piercing elegance and skill, The Women Could Fly recalls legendary works of dystopian fiction but casts a spell all its own. Giddings is a rare and utterly original voice bridging the speculative and the all-too-real.

Equal parts magic and revelatory.

Megan Giddings has a knack for taking her readers on a wild, suspenseful and thrilling ride. With descriptive setting and peculiar character development, I’m sure this novel is about to give us Dune meets The Salem Witch Trials realness.

A book with echoes of Octavia Butler and Shirley Jackson.

Megan Giddings is a young writer to watch.

A dynamite story of a Black woman’s resistance in an oppressive dystopia . . . Giddings ingeniously blends her harrowing parable of an all-powerful patriarchy with insights into racial imbalances . . . This is brilliant.

In Megan Giddings’ tightly wound supernatural dystopia . . . a book about witches, The Women Could Fly feels pretty gritty and grounded, and has plenty to say about the regular old dystopia we’re stuck in.

Buzzes with hot-button issues

The language and world-building are beautifully executed, rewriting our assumptions of witchcraft . . . I found myself hoping for more stories set in this universe — a coven’s worth, if you will . . . we could all use a little magic right now.